A Casebook on Roman Family Law

by Frier, Bruce W.; McGinn, Thomas A. J.; Lidov, Joel

• ISBN13: 9780195161861
• ISBN10: 0195161866
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This casebook presents 235 representative texts drawn largely from Roman legal sources, especially Justinian's Digest. These cases and the discussion questions that follow provide a good introduction to the basic legal problems associated with the ordinary families of Roman citizens. The arrangement of materials conveys to students an understanding of the basic rules of Roman family law while also providing them with the means to question these rules and explore the broader legal principles that underlie them.

Author Biography

Bruce W. Frier is Professor of Classics and Roman Law at the University of Michigan. Thomas A.J. McGinn is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Vanderbilt University.

Table of Contents

Major Jurists Cited in This Casebook	xxi
Introduction to Roman Family Law	3	(9)
Basic Concepts
Freedom, Citizenship, and Household	12	(2)
Slavery and Freedom	14	(2)
Agnatic Relationship	16	(2)
The Household (Familia) and the Pater Familias	18	(3)
Sui Iuris and Alieni Iuris	21	(2)
The Age of Majority	23	(4)
Marriage
Part A. Getting Married
Section 1. Capacity to Marry
Less Than Minimum Age	27	(2)
The Ability to Procreate	29	(2)
Conubium	31	(3)
Legal Impediments	34	(2)
Incestuous Marriage	36	(3)
Incentives to Marry and Reproduce	39	(2)
Section 2. Agreement and Marital Affection
The Requirement of Agreement	41	(2)
A Freedwoman's Agreement	43	(2)
Not Standing on Ceremony	45	(2)
What the Neighbors Know	47	(2)
Marital Affection	49	(2)
A Wife or a Concubine?	51	(3)
Section 3: Ceremony?
An Archaic Wedding Ceremony	54	(2)
Leading a Bride into the Home	56	(2)
The Significance of Ceremony	58	(2)
Cohabitation and Marriage	60	(2)
The Man Who Died beside the Tiber	62	(3)
Part B. Further Aspects of the Marriage Process
Section 1. Betrothal
Arranging a Betrothal	65	(2)
Agreement to Betrothal	67	(1)
Betrothal and Marriage	68	(2)
An Affront to the Fiancee	70	(1)
Jilting Your Intended	71	(1)
Section 2. Dowry
Marriage, Dowry, and Public Policy	72	(3)
Giving the Dowry	75	(3)
The Bride Gets Cold Feet	78	(1)
The Duty to Provide a Dowry	79	(2)
Appropriate Dowries	81	(2)
The ``Dowered'' Wife	83	(1)
The Burdens of Marriage	84	(1)
Appraising the Dowry	85	(4)
Part C. The Marital Regime
Section 1. Manus Marriage
Filiae Loco	89	(2)
The Wife's Property	91	(2)
Acquisitions by a Wife in Manus	93	(1)
Can a Wife in Manus Divorce?	94	(2)
Section 2. Relations between Spouses
Free Marriage: The Principle of Noninterference	96	(1)
Sharing Status	97	(2)
Showing Reverence	99	(1)
An Affront to a Spouse	100	(1)
No Infamy	101	(3)
Section 3. Procreation and Sexual Fidelity
An Unknown Son	104	(1)
Notice of Pregnancy	105	(3)
Protecting the Unborn Child	108	(1)
Custody of Children	109	(1)
Adultery and Marriage	110	(2)
Killing the Adulterer...	112	(2)
...But Not His Own Wife	114	(2)
Pandering	116	(2)
The Necessity of Divorce	118	(2)
A Double Standard?	120	(2)
Section 4. The Property of the Spouses
Separate Estates	122	(2)
Managing His Wife's Property	124	(1)
What the Woman Brings with Her	125	(2)
Q. Mucius's Presumption	127	(1)
Maintenance	128	(2)
No Gifts	130	(3)
A Fake Sale	133	(1)
Making Clothes	134	(1)
Exceptions	135	(2)
Severan Reforms	137	(3)
Section 5. Administering the Dowry
Equitable Ownership?	140	(3)
Fruits and Capital Gains	143	(2)
A Dowry Allowance to the Wife	145	(2)
Tying the Dowry to the Wife's Maintenance	147	(2)
Diligence	149	(2)
Necessary Expenses	151	(2)
Statutory Limits on a Husband's Power	153	(3)
Part D. The End of Marriage
Section 1. Captivity, Deportation, and Divorce
Captured	156	(2)
A Daughter Is Deported	158	(2)
Free Divorce	160	(1)
Divorce by Remarriage?	161	(2)
The Mental Element	163	(1)
Formal Requirements?	164	(3)
Free-Form Divorce	167	(2)
Amicable Divorce	169	(1)
Section 2. Return of the Dowry
A Wife Dies	170	(3)
Divorce and the Dowry	173	(1)
Retention on Moral Grounds	174	(3)
Retaining Necessary Expenses	177	(2)
Reducing the Dowry by Law	179	(2)
Useful Expenses	181	(2)
Opening a Quarry	183	(2)
Luxury Expenses	185	(1)
Gaius Gracchus and Licinia's Dowry	186	(7)
Patria Potestas
Part A. Powers
Section 1. The Power of Life and Death
The Consilium I: Almost the Entire Senate	193	(3)
The Consilium II: The Quality of Mercy	196	(3)
A Hunting Accident?	199	(3)
Disciplining a Troublesome Son	202	(2)
An Offense Related to Public Pietas	204	(1)
An Adulterous Daughter	205	(2)
Limitations on Killing a Daughter	207	(3)
A Son and the State	210	(2)
Section 2. Consent to Marriage
Who Consents	212	(2)
Compelling a Child's Consent	214	(1)
A Father's Consent	215	(3)
Impaired Consent: Madness	218	(1)
Impaired Consent: Captivity	219	(2)
Parental Consent and Public Policy	221	(1)
Divorce: The Emperor Pius Intervenes	222	(1)
A Father Changes His Mind	223	(1)
Disposition of Gifts	224	(2)
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do	226	(3)
Section 3. Custody and Maintenance
Stealing a Child	229	(1)
Mother versus Father	230	(1)
Deciding on Custody	231	(3)
Self-Custody	234	(1)
Maintenance of Relatives	235	(5)
Part B. Property and Obligations
Section 1. Acquiring for the Pater Familias
Owning and Possessing Nothing	240	(1)
Through Whom Do We Acquire?	241	(3)
Ownership and Possession	244	(2)
The Father's Knowledge	246	(2)
Acquiring a Debt	248	(3)
Section 2. Obligating the Pater Familias
The Uniqueness of the Son-in-Power	251	(2)
As Though He Were a Pater Familias	253	(1)
Suing the Son	254	(1)
The Father's Order	255	(1)
Turned to the Father's Benefit	256	(2)
Obtaining a Daughter's Dowry	258	(2)
Business Managers	260	(5)
Section 3. The Peculium
The Nature of the Fund	265	(2)
The Contents of a Peculium	267	(2)
Constituting a Peculium	269	(2)
Slave Women and Daughters	271	(1)
Acquiring Property	272	(2)
Free Administration	274	(3)
Gifts from a Peculium	277	(1)
Lending Money	278	(2)
Defending the Peculium	280	(2)
Computing the Balance	282	(3)
Deductions from the Peculium	285	(3)
The Deceitful Pater	288	(1)
Alternative Remedies	289	(1)
The Camp Peculium	290	(2)
Section 4. Liability for Wrongful Acts
Noxal Actions	292	(2)
Liability and Status	294	(1)
Defending the Son	295	(1)
Wrongs against Children-in-Power	296	(2)
Part C. Creation and Termination
Section 1. Birth
Paternal Power and Status	298	(1)
Presuming a Father	299	(1)
Periods of Gestation	300	(2)
Strange Bedfellows?	302	(1)
A Divorced Wife Takes Vengeance	303	(1)
Section 2. Adrogation and Adoption
Adrogation	304	(2)
The Adoption Process	306	(3)
Age Requirements	309	(1)
Family Ties	310	(1)
Adoption and Adrogation of Women	311	(1)
Adoption by Women	312	(1)
The Imitation of Nature	313	(2)
Section 3. Emancipation
The Decision to Emancipate	315	(2)
Study Abroad	317	(1)
Emancipated versus Freed	318	(1)
The State Intervenes	319	(4)
Succession
Part A. Intestate Succession
Section 1. Civil and Praetorian Law
Rules of the Ius Civile	323	(3)
An Unwilling Heir	326	(2)
The Praetor's Rules	328	(2)
Emancipated and Disinherited	330	(1)
A Legal Puzzler	331	(2)
The Third Praetorian Class (Unde Cognati)	333	(1)
Illegitimate Children	334	(1)
Son-in-Power as Cognate	335	(2)
Husbands and Wives	337	(2)
Section 2. The Senatusconsulta Tertullianum et Orphitianum
Mothers Inherit from Children	339	(1)
Children Inherit from Mothers	340	(1)
Disqualifications	341	(3)
Part B. Heirs and the Will
Section 1. Freedom of Testation and Substitution
The Mancipatory Will	344	(3)
Common Substitution	347	(1)
Pupillary Substitution	348	(1)
The Causa Curiana	349	(2)
Who's on First?	351	(1)
Two Wills	352	(1)
Section 2. The Sui Heredes
Privileged Heirs	353	(1)
Defective Wills	354	(2)
Name Games	356	(2)
Disinheritance as an Advantage	358	(1)
Partial Disinheritance	359	(1)
Providing for Postumi	360	(1)
Postumi and the (Un)married Man	361	(2)
Subfecundity	363	(2)
Twins	365	(2)
Section 3. Bonorum Possessio against the Terms of a Will
The Challenge of the Emancipatus	367	(2)
Adopted Children	369	(2)
Passing Over Sui Heredes	371	(2)
The Son of an Adopted Child	373	(2)
Adopting a Son as a Grandson	375	(1)
Adopting a Grandson as a Son	376	(1)
Section 4. The Undutiful Will
Complaints about the Will	377	(1)
Duty and Sanity	378	(1)
Evil Stepmothers	379	(2)
A Mother's Mistake	381	(2)
Multiple Claims	383	(1)
Procedural Alternatives	384	(3)
Part C. Bequests to Nonheirs
Section 1. Legacies
The Lex Falcidia	387	(2)
Legacy of a Dowry	389	(1)
Legacy in Place of a Dowry	390	(2)
Generic Legacies	392	(2)
Things Acquired for a Wife	394	(3)
Legacy of a Unsufruct	397	(3)
Legacy of a Peculium	400	(2)
Release from Liability	402	(2)
Section 2. Fideicommissa
Inheritance by Another Name?	404	(2)
Fideicommissum or Not?	406	(2)
The Gargilian Farm	408	(2)
Legacy and Fideicommissum	410	(2)
Bad Blood	412	(1)
Section 3. Gifts Mortis Causa
Motives and Reasons	413	(3)
Just Like a Legacy	416	(9)
Appendix: A Specimen Roman Will	418	(7)
Tutelage and the Status of Children and Women
Part A. Children, Young Adults, Lunatics, and Spendthrifts
Section 1. The Tutelage of Children
Defining Tutelage	425	(1)
Appointing a Tutor	426	(2)
The Tutor as Owner	428	(2)
Authorization	430	(2)
Welfare of the Child	432	(2)
Pitfalls of Tutelage	434	(3)
Liability for Alienating Property	437	(1)
Section 2. Curatorship of Young Adults
Making Whole: Restitutio in Integrum	438	(3)
The Appointment of a Curator	441	(2)
Paying a Debt	443	(2)
Section 3. Curatorship of Lunatics and Prodigals
Parting Lunatics and Prodigals from Their Property	445	(2)
A Worried Mother	447	(3)
Part B. The Status of Women
Section 1. The Permanent Tutelage of Women
The Weaker Sex?	450	(3)
The Tutor's Authorization	453	(1)
Escaping a Tutor	454	(1)
Women's Wills	455	(2)
Section 2. Women's Public Position
Where the Boys Are	457	(3)
Order in the Court	460	(1)
Male Jobs	461	(2)
Ignorance of the Law	463	(1)
The Credit of Women	464	(3)
Protecting Women in Financial Matters	467	(1)
Sexual Harassment	468	(3)
Appendix: Biographies of the Major Roman Jurists	471	(8)
Glossary of Technical Terms	479	(10)
Suggested Further Reading	489	(2)
Bibliography on the Roman Family	491	(4)
Index of Sources	495